Battery metals: from rawmaterial to cathode.

A lithium-ion battery cell contains a cathode, an anode, an electrolyte and a separator. The cathode is where most of the critical metals sit: lithium in every chemistry, and nickel, cobalt and manganese in nickel-based chemistries. The anode is mostly graphite.

Raw materials rarely go straight into a battery. Lithium is mined from hard rock, such as spodumene, or recovered from brines, and is then converted into lithium carbonate or hydroxide of battery grade. Nickel and cobalt are refined into sulphates, often from intermediate products such as mixed hydroxide precipitate. Natural graphite is purified and shaped into spherical particles.

The refined chemicals are combined into precursor and cathode active materials, which are sold to cell makers. Each step tightens the specification: battery-grade products must meet strict limits for trace metals, moisture and particle characteristics.

Traceability has become part of the specification. Buyers and regulations increasingly require due diligence on where materials come from and how they were produced, especially for cobalt, and documentation is requested from the first contact.

For producers, the question is which refiner or converter can accept their material as it is. For buyers, it is finding material that meets both the chemistry and the documentation they need.